Book 1: Chapter 22, Aristotle's Logic Summary and Analysis

Aristotle's greatest influence was in logic that was recognized and maintained the Middle Ages. His superiority involved metaphysics and maintained influence despite differences in modern logic. His most important doctrine was that of syllogism consisting of premises, minor premises, and conclusion. Syllogisms involved different kinds and the most important was called Barbara, where the conclusion involved combining premises, such as that men were mortal, and as Socrates was a man, he was mortal. Other forms involved Celarent, Darii, and Ferio, where conclusions were drawn from inferences in statements. There could also be other inferences drawn, but they signified that deductive inference was syllogistic and through syllogism and arguments in syllogistic form should help in avoiding fallacies.

Their criticism involves formal defects, where the distinction between two statements may reveals that they are invalid if one...